Red Hook Cajun Seafood & Bar to expand in Memphis area
The owners of Red Hook Cajun Seafood & Bar are on a mission to be “the” place to go for seafood in Memphis.
The Memphis-based chain will expand from five restaurants to nine. Four more restaurants in the Memphis area are now in the works.
A location at 7733 Winchester Road is set to open in October. This location will be in the free-standing building that was formerly a Kublai Khan restaurant. According to Red Hook spokesperson and builder Daniel Ellington, this location will have the restaurant chain’s largest party room, with seating for up to 50 guests in NON-COVID-19 times.
Next to open will be a location in Southaven at 7065 Airways Blvd. Construction on the restaurant that was formerly Fiesta Grill is underway.
The historic Nineteenth Century Club at 1433 Union Ave., the former home of Red Fish Sushi & Asian Bistro, will be the third location to open. Ellington said an opening date has yet to be set, but the company hopes to open that restaurant within the next six months.
A takeout-focused location in Whitehaven at 4255 Elvis Presley Blvd. will open in the first quarter of 2021. This restaurant will be primarily for takeout orders, with a limited seating area.
Red Hook opened its first location in Bartlett (6105 Stage Road) in May 2019. A second location in the University of Memphis area (3295 Poplar Ave.) followed in October of that year. A location in San Antonio was the third to open in 2019. A location in Jackson opened in February, followed by the Wolf Chase location (2844 New Brunswick Road) in March.
The menu’s focus is on Cajun seafood boils.
Guests can customize seafood boils, choosing from items such as blue crab, shrimp, snow crab claws, lobster tails and mussels. There are 12 shellfish from which to choose. Prices fluctuate based on market price. Each boil comes with corn and potatoes, just like in Louisiana.
In addition to choosing which seafood will be in the boil, guests can also customize their seasoning.
First, choose from four flavors: Cajun, lemon pepper, garlic butter or the “Red Hook Special” (a seasoning blend that is a combination of the first three). Guests can also choose the level of spice, with five options ranging from non-spicy to extra hot.
The ownership group, which includes restaurateurs Joe Ng and Tony Ng, has close to two decades of restaurant experience. With more than 10 restaurants and growing, their family of restaurants includes takeouts, buffets and restaurants like Akita Sushi & Hibachi Steakhouse in Southaven and Urban Fusion Asian Bistro in Germantown.
Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercialappeal.com and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.